Sunday, February 17, 2013

Meet the commenters: 'CBT'

Real name: Tom (CBT stands for Computer Boy Tom, that was my moniker back when I was a regular caller to the Heavy Fuel Crew show on WSCR, the Score Sportsradio)

Gender: Male

Age: 50

Occupation: Customer Service Professional for an ISO auditing firm. I used to specialize in computers, hence my moniker.

Family info: Married to my beautiful wife Kara, father of a 17 year old boy, step-father of a 25 year old young woman and proud owner of a 90 pound Boxer named Zeus.

Resides: Palatine, IL

Political philosophy: I believe the following: Abortion should be safe and legal everywhere without having to jump through a lot of hoops (i.e. mandatory waiting periods). Gays should have equal rights, including full access to marriage. The "War on drugs" is a complete failure and Marijuana should be legalized and taxed like alcohol. There's no good reason that an individual can wager on a horse race, the lottery, blackjack or craps, but can't legally bet on the outcome of a sporting event. There are millions of dollars moving through the black market on sports betting and drugs that need to be legalized and controlled.

Hobbies: My favorite thing to do is cook dinner for my family (including doing the grocery shopping). I spend my free time bicycle riding, playing pinball, being commissioner of a fantasy football league, and watching the Bears, Bulls and White Sox and hoping for them to win their games and then for the Cubs to lose theirs.

These days I’m recommending: "Change of Subject", it's the best blog on the internet, reading Time Magazine and Sports Illustrated to keep up on the world's events and television shows "Modern Family", "The Big Bang Theory", "2 Broke Girls", "Saturday Night Live", and "Girls".

@ Dr X: I had not heard that one before. Some people ask me if CBT stands for Computer Based Training and EZ said he thought it might have stood for a sexual activity practiced by those outside of the mainstream, which I won't mention here.

@ Jose: Those 3 Score callers you mentioned were among the best, no doubt about it. I would also include Park Ridge Craig, Homewood Mark, Pluto from Evanston, Car Phone Rob, Car Phone Chuck, Patrick from Joliet, Bobby from the West Side, Cheesehead Scott, Slapshot Ed, Young Sam, Mason from Hyde Park, Bruce from Downtown, Cicero Bob, JT from Portage Park, Patio Steve and 2 who are no longer with us, Rafael from Berwyn and Steve-O from Mt. Prospect.

Nice to meet you, Tom. I agree with you on sports betting and drugs, but the people behind this stuff have more power and money than our government. They want to keep things just the way they are, with the help of amateur and pro sports organizations.

About "Change of Subject."

"Change of Subject" by Chicago Tribune op-ed columnist Eric Zorn contains observations, reports, tips, referrals and tirades, though not necessarily in that order. Links will tend to expire, so seize the day. For an archive of Zorn's latest Tribune columns click here. An explanation of the title of this blog is here. If you have other questions, suggestions or comments, send e-mail to ericzorn at gmail.com.
More about Eric Zorn

Contributing editor Jessica Reynolds is a 2012 graduate of Loyola University Chicago and is the coordinator of the Tribune's editorial board. She can be reached at jreynolds at tribune.com.